Texas-Spring Winds Blowing-State 11 of 49 on our Adventure-Part 1

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

Welcome to Texas. The historical average temperature for Whitney, TX is 48 °F to 72 °F with an average wind speed of 11 mph to 22 mph sustained winds. Gusts are up to 38 mph. Of course Lora and her RV friends on Facebook keep telling everyone to not drive above 30 mph. I am mixed on the opinion. Always check your route and wind direction. Always beware of pass trucks, RVs, and cars. If you are pulling a Travel Trailer without sway control then I would recommend routes that avoid highways and high speeds. In Texas most speed limits are 75 mph. If you are going 60 mph the pushing of wind by a passing vehicle going 75 mph will be much worse.

The time from Tiny Town Cabins & RV Park to Whitney Resort, formally Sun Country Resort, in Whitney, TX is 4 h 33 min (254 miles) via I-35E.

Everything in Texas is big, so we heard. It is true. The there are vast amount of open land separated by fence. Most likely dividing the ranches.

Lora read a lot being careful on Texas road because they are in bad shape. There are some spots along the route that were rough, but nothing more than we have already experienced. There is a significant amount of road work along I-35E so there is a bunch of road barriers that is never good to drive next to.

The winds were blowing between 15 mph to 25 mph. Rolling Paradise, our 3500 Ram, is doing great, but this is the first time I do feel gusts as I roll down the road. We stayed 65 mph or less along the route.

Whitney Resort is a Coast to Coast Deluxe member. Our reservation is from April 12th to April 18th. We adjusted our schedule after having cold weather in Arkansas. You can read about Arkansas and Oklahoma in our previous blog posts. The resort is under new ownership. The reviews are all over the place. The resort also has an 18 hole golf course and RV Retirement Community. The entrance is gated and far off the road and RV sites. The Park Manager had our paperwork already when we arrived. Our cost was $3.00/per night for 50 amp service under our Coast to Coast Premier Membership. The manager excused the parks appearance. The new owners have started with the Gold Course renovation first. He mentioned the roads, bathhouse, and club house should be renovated by June 2018. The drive to the gate house and to the RV sites is defiantly in need of major repair. The bathhouse is not bad at all. The Laundry room is clean and nice machines. The spots are large.

Whitney, TX is centrally located between Waco, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Glen Rose. The town was established in 1876 when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad built a line through Hill County to Cleburne. The town has a centrally located court house. The court houses we have seen in these small towns have large and beautiful architectural designs. The building normally takes up one block. The city is 3 miles east of Lake Whitney.

What was crazy was when we got into Whitney there were what we assumed to be prisoners cutting the grass.

The evening had crazy wind. Forecast was 15 mph – 25 mph sustained winds with gust up to 35 mph. The wind was hitting the rear of the camper. I decided to place the truck between the wind and travel trailer. The truck barrier made a tremendous difference in the rocking. Lora sees so many discussions on the RV Facebook sites about wind. She posted our solution and was surprised how many people had not thought about doing that same thing. In some cases it will not be possible because of the site layout or closeness to other campers.

The next day we caught up on laundry before heading anywhere. Our first trip out was to visit Glen Rose, TX. A post office was opened there in 1874, and Glen Rose became county seat of the newly formed Somervell County in 1875. During Prohibition the area was a center of moonshining, and the cedar brakes of Glen Rose became known as the "whiskey woods capital of the state." Tourists who visited Glen Rose no longer came for its sulfur springs but to see the dinosaur tracks in Dinosaur Valley State Park, northwest of the town on Park Road 59.

The Fossil Rim Wildlife Center is located in Glen Rose. Traversing 1,800 acres Fossil Rim most of the 1,100 animals roam freely in large pastures among near natural conditions. It is a safari park where you can drive your vehicle through approximately 6-9 miles of road, take a safari bus, or private guided tour. It was a very nice drive with many wildlife walking up to the vehicles.

After the Wildlife Center we decided to have lunch. We had Lunch at Casa Azteca Mexican Bar & Grill, Glen Rose, TX. An authentic Mexican Restaurant we ordered 2 Super Molcajete meals. It came in a stone bowl. It was very good. We took our pictures of the meal and site to do our reviews on Facebook and TripAdvisor.

We headed back to the camper after our meal. We have a 50 minute drive past fancy ranch entrances with endless fence dividing ranches on either side.

There is a cold front going through tonight. We are under a tornado watch till late into the night. The clouds and winds crazy wild. The wind direction changed from the previous day. The wind was hitting our 2 awning slideouts on the driver side rocking the camper. The wind appeared to be diagonal to the camper position. This time I placed a string and tissue on the antenna of the truck and place the truck between the wind and the travel trailer. What a difference. There was lightening and thunder in the distance.

We seemed to be on the edge of a major storm. We had some steady rain and hail for a short period. First time having hail in a camper. It can be loud inside.

The rain stopped, but the weather around us was still roaring, the lightening and thunder was in the distance. The clouds and sheet lightening was intense.

After the cold front passed through it was noticeably cooler. The clouds set us up for a beautiful sunset.

Our next day we headed to Waco, Texas. We visited the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum first. The museum documents and exhibits the history of the Texas Rangers. One exhibit gives the visitor a chance to hold the revolvers used by the Texas Rangers. It is surprising to feel how heavy they weigh.

After visiting the museum we went to lunch nearby. We ate at The Twisted Root Burger Company. Twisted Root Burger is straight forward, order first get a celebrity name and wait for you order is called up. Our name was Jennifer Lopez, aka J Lo. The fries are hand cut. They have a great selection of pickle slices from basic to hot. The atmosphere is busy, music videos playing on one screen, sports on others. Guy Fieri visited this establishment for his show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

The night before, I seen a Nightline Show on the Branch Dravidian 25th anniversary of the Waco siege. The siege was of a compound belonging to the Branch Davidians, carried out by FBI and Texas state law enforcement, as well as the U.S. military, between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians were led by David Koresh and were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in the community of Axtell, Texas, 13 miles east-northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the ATF obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and a select few of the group's members. The incident began when the ATF attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four government agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the compound, a siege lasting 51 days was initiated by the FBI. Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out of the ranch. During the attack, a fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center. In total, 76 people died, including David Koresh.

We drove past the gates to the compound by mistake. We drove up the road to a spot we can turn around. When we drove back, the gate on the entrance side was closed and the exit side was open with a vehicle driving towards the exit. We took a few pictures and headed away.

We ended the day around 4:00 pm. The next 2 days before we leave, we will be heading to Fort Worth and Dallas. We are taking so many pictures now between us, I have figured to create YouTube videos as Screen Savers without music or animation photos with music. I will shorten the blog posts by state, by breaking the attractions into Parts if we see so many attractions. See ya in Texas-Spring Winds Blowing-State 11 of 49 on our Adventure-Part 2

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